Inside the Phillies with MLB.com beat writer Todd Zolecki

Utley Has Tendinitis In His Right Knee

Chase Utley has tendinitis in his right knee, and the Phillies said they will bring him along slowly this spring to ensure he is ready for the season.

They said Utley is not scheduled for a cortisone injection.

Utley said surgery has not been discussed.

Utley is not in the lineup for today’s Grapefruit League game against the New York Yankees at Bright House Field. He has missed three games, including Thursday’s game against the Florida State Seminoles and yesterday’s game against the Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa.

Utley had a MRI yesterday. The results showed patellar tendinitis.

“It was bothering him enough and bothering me enough to frankly go ahead a precautionarily do that,” Ruben Amaro Jr. said about the MRI. “It causes some soreness, and rather than really push him early here we’re going to kind of take it easy on him so there aren’t residual effects during the course of the year.”

Is it serious?

“If he continues to aggravate it, it could get more painful,” Amaro said.

Utley said he has had tendinitis in the knee in the past, although it hasn’t gone away as quickly as it has in the past. He said his knee started bothering him again sometime during the offseason. He said he feels no soreness when he hits, but feels it when running and playing defense.

“I think at this point it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Utley said. “I’d rather miss some games here than miss games during the season. It’s something that I’ve dealt with before. It’s something I’m probably going to have to continue to maintain and keep an eye on.”

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9 Comments

Time for Ruben to START looking for a possible roster addition who can hit more than Valdez. And Charlie needs to be made to understand that he NEEDS to USE any player that Ruben might get him and,that initially at least, the Phils might only carry 11 pitchers.

And my point muleman, is that it doesn’t go away. What do you think Davey Lopes was talking about last season when he let it out that Chase was dealing with knee issues? You can rest it, but you can’t cure it. He’s going to have to take a lot of days off this year.

The good news is that the season hasn’t started. So we can keep our fingers crossed and hope its something that can be managed by rest. Charlie always said he wanted to rest Chase more,this may give him the “excuse” he was looking for. Guess Valdez will get some playing time.

The way to rest Utley is to remove him when we have a lead in teh 8th for Valdez who is an equally good (if not better) fielder and whose bat won’t be needed. Giving him 1-2 innings off once or twice a week won’t hurt us but will save his knees

The way to rest Utley is to remove him when we have a lead in teh 8th for Valdez who is an equally good (if not better) fielder and whose bat won’t be needed. Giving him 1-2 innings off once or twice a week won’t hurt us but will save his knees

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